After 115 years, I think this is out of copyright.
IANA chemist. I’ve heard that nitroglycerin becomes unstable above 56ºF. I used to work with a guy who would make nitroglycerine and freeze the vials in ice cubes. On a particularly hot day, he would space the ice cubes along the middle of a street. He said the ice would melt, and the nitro would explode when it warmed up.
I have a feeling that temperature control was not as sophisticated a century or so ago. If nitroglycerine is so unstable, how did they keep it from exploding in relatively uncontrolled conditions? Why wouldn’t it explode upon entering a 98.6º body? Upon entering the stomach, isn’t there a reaction with the stomach acids and other contents that would either set it off or neutralise it? In short, is this 1905 story in any way plausible?
There is no town in Minnesota named Wheatley.
There is a Wheaton, which is in the far western edge of Minnesota, farm country. But it has no Town Marshall. No towns in Minnesota have a Marshall; that is a State or County office, where there is one. Towns either have police (with a Chief) or law enforcement is by the County, through Deputy Sheriffs. I don’t think the 1300 residents of Wheaton need much law enforcement.
Nor do they have much need nor nitroglycerin, in this completely flat farm country.
And there isn’t any undertaker in the town, though Ranney’s Furniture can supply a casket if needed.
First of all, nitroglycerin used as a medicine, pretty much unchanged from the explosive except for concentration. As such, taking a big ol’ slug of blasting juice would make the drinker faint quickly from vasodepressor syncope – passing out due to reduced blood pressure caused by massive dilation of blood vessels (nitroglycerine’s medical effect).
IANAD, but my understanding is that the vasodilation effect is very fast – nitro is used as an emergency medication during a heart attack – so I doubt our purported victim would get out of the building before fainting dead away.
ETA: It’s hard to answer factual questions about impossible urban legend situations.
Well, I was once given nitroglycerine against a forthcoming heart attack by my family doctor before I was brought into a hospital, but as I remember I didn’t drink, but sniff it. I didn’t explode anyway.
homemade nitroglycerin is even less stable anyway, and nitroglycerin degrades as it warms up, and frozen nitroglycerine becomes very unstable if it warms up rapidly. So I rate this one ‘plausible’ (although privately I think ‘hopeful’)
Surprisingly, medical nitroglycerin is just ordinary nitroglycerin diluted only slightly, which apparently makes it safe from exploding. The IV kind is diluted I believe with a small amount of sodium chloride (salt) and/or something else, while the spray kind that I’ve had on hand since my mild heart attack (never had to use it, thankfully) simply says “contains 20% alcohol” which appears to be the sole diluting agent. Both the packaging and the pharmacist’s label on it say “do not shake!” But when I was in the hospital initially, and got some just after admission, the nurse shook it quite vigorously before spraying it in my mouth. I think the dilution makes it perfectly stable and the “do not shake” is just a CYA type of thing.
Also, it’s supposed to be kept moderately cool (under 30 deg. C) not because it might explode, but because the mixture is flammable. It won’t explode but it WILL burn.
Of course, none of that applies to pure nitroglycerine, which can explode if you just look at it the wrong way!
So many little bits of facts/near facts and the story can seem plausible.
Drink nitroglycerin (NG from now on)? Well, yes. it’s a medicine used to treat heart conditions in emergencies. Probably won’t poison the guy directly.
He was drunk. NG gets diluted with alcohol in medicinal form. He already had a copious amount in his stomach from the story. Could have let him get a short distance away.
Vasodilator should have knocked him out right away - see the alcohol dilution above.
Frozen body in Minnesota. Sure, I’ve been there. A real hazard in winter conditions.
Exploded when thawed. OKAY. Gets a bit shakier here.
NG is actually more hazardous when frozen than in liquid form. It takes a crystalline structural shape. NG is very sensitive to shock. The collapse of the crystals at the microscopic level is sufficient to get NG to detonate. Commercial dynamite made with NG is a noted hazard when frozen. Note that US military dynamite is not made with NG, however, the small quantities of dynamite in explosive scent kits are the real NG deal.
Added. Too late to edit.
Doubt he froze quickly enough with a significant quantity of NG not absorbed into his system or diluted to have the requisite NG quantity to blow him to bits.
Agreed, primarily because nitroglycerin inactivates immediately upon contact with stomach acid. You would choke on it before you OD’d on it, and that’s why it’s administered sublingually (under the tongue) or through the skin (patches or ointment) and an intravenous bottle won’t contain enough to be explosive.
This sounds like an urban legend from start to finish.
“The body, which was badly distorted, was picked up and hauled to the Argonvale home, where Peter’s late boss undertook to thaw him out so that the body might be placed in a coffin and properly composed.”
So Claude (the late boss) was blown to pieces too?
Not sure if you’re joking or not, but in this context “late” just means the same as “former”. He isn’t Peter’s boss any more. The employment terminated upon Peter’s death.
Minnesota does have a US Marshal–Ramona L. Dohman, the 40th person to hold the office–but as far as I can tell from the US Marshals website, every marshal since Clement McCausland (died 03/27/1872) has been for the entire state. I don’t see anything about a Wheatley, Minnesota 115 years ago (Google has its limitations), so I guess that’s questionable. Doesn’t Minnesota have mines and tree stumps? Maybe the bank robber with the nitro was from out of state…
